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I splashed some cold water on my face, took a few deep breaths and got my shit together.
I just had to refocus my drive for blood into something productive like cracking safes, getting strong, and making sure the bond snapped into place. Once I got lost in the flow of my work, I’d forget how thirsty I was.
I only had six days until Titus’s incursion at the compound, and I wanted to know all the new safes by then, that way I could use the time between then andourincursion to fine-tune my skills.
Once my appearance resembled something close to normal, I headed down to the basement. I didn’t run into anyone else on my way. Not Sunny, no housekeepers, not even BDD who I hadn’t seen in days.
I’d have to remember to ask Julian if he was okay.
I guess the big lug had grown on me.
I flicked the switch on, the familiar hum of fluorescent tube lighting was a strange sort of friend down here, all alone. After skimming the plans once more, I headed to the next safe down the line: Ricardo.
I’d already named him after reading through his manual last night. He was smooth and sleek and too pretty, with his straight lines and minimal design. But he was also what I liked to call a sleeper. One miscalculated move and Ricardo would blow up in your face like a sleeper agent in the movies who’d just heard their wake code.
I rubbed my palms together and smoothed them down his front panel, stopping just before the old-fashioned turnstile wheel.
“Tricky, tricky, Ricardo. You look like an old-style safe, but you’re a modern gentleman layered with traps.”
I cycled through the numeric sequence and set off the first booby trap.
A light blinked on the control board I’d wired into him last night. I checked the wiring diagram I’d sketched, and sighed into my palm.
“Ricardo, you called the cops on me. That’s not nice.”
I jotted a note next to that bundle of wires on my diagram, detailing what triggering it did, and moved on to the next group of wires.
There were only a few things a stock safe could do: call the cops, set off a loud-ass alarm, lock the room, or slam down a piece of plexiglass or steel in front of the loot.
That was not to say a safe couldn’t be modified to do all sorts of shitty things. Julian was rumored to have hardwired stakes in the walls, but I was only concerned with what I could prepare for, figuring out which booby traps tripped which stock trigger.
Soon enough I lost myself in the work, and later Sunny’s telltale heels clacking on the metal steps told me it was time for lunch.
That I hadn’t heard her descending the stairs the last few days was only more proof of how hyper-focused I’d been. But now I knew I had to be more aware of how much blood I consumed, and so I kept a sliver of my attention on the room at all times.
“Afternoon, Eden,” Sunny chirped as she laid a tray down on the worktable.
“Afternoon,” I said, dusting my hands off on my jeans. Sunny wore a stunning fuchsia dress and I don’t know how she pulled it off with her coppery hair, but somehow, it looked amazing on her.
She’d paired it with nude heels. Chanel this time.
“I halved your blood as you asked.”
I nodded and moved on. The less blood talk the better. “Hey, next meal, why don’t you bring two trays and we can eat together? Or you could just send me a text and I can come upstairs.”
Sunny’s eyes brightened at my suggestion. I bet she ate her meals alone at her desk. If she had a desk.
“Sure. I assumed you wanted as much time as possible for all these safes. But you’re further along than even Julian expected, so I don’t see why not.”
Huh.So, Julian had a timeline for me, did he?
I rearranged the papers on the table to make a spot for her and pulled out another folding chair. “Is it weird if you stay while I eat this really quick? I just want to pick your brain a little.”
“Sure, not a problem,” she said and sat delicately in the metal chair.
I bit into the pumpernickel bread and corned beef, lips smacking as the mild and bitter bread mixed with the tangy, acidic notes of the meat.
God, I loved being a vampire.
